The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-25
THE DAILY NEWS
A WIFES WORK.
JOE HOWARD, JR., TELLS THE STORY
OF A NEWSPAPERS SUCCESS.

The Beginning Of n Zig Business Quar-
ter of Century Ago-what Feminine
Brain and Drawn Helped to Accom-
piish-
A newspaper helpmeet.
You know the New York Stats
Zeitung?
You know its magnificent granite build
ing that stands on what was once known
as Tyron row, now the base Of City Hall
square at the bridge entrance, with
cellars and outreachngs that extend Mt
least n hundred feet under the center
OF the street, with no more right there
than ! would have in the Kingdom of
Heaven prior to the shutting off my
mortal coil
Who owns its
Oswald Ottendorfer and the heirs of
the late Mrs. Ottendorfer.
Perhaps you think Ottendorfer made
the Stats Zeitung, and coined the cash
which paid for that beautiful ornamental
ton;
Not much.
Go back with me n quarter of century,
and in little cellar a Kind of black place
at that, lock with me at "a sturdy, stubby,
modest, driving, pushing, energetic
German named UhI- See him set type.
See him justify it. See him put it on the
stone. See him put it in the form. See
him lock up the form and watch him as
he puts it on his hand press
Does he work the press?
No, he doesn't.
But his wife works the press. A large,
fine looking woman, with a well devel-
oped head, n beautifully proportioncd
body, and with intelligence written in
every line of her attractive face. She pulls
with brawny arm, she pushes with expand
iVrr SSIa -hx.x DO off bon
She takes from the press the dampened
sheet. She folds it. She sells it, and she
puts the coppers in her pocket
There they work day after day, night
after night.
The place is dirty.
The surroundings are unpleasant; the
work, as we who are printers know, is not
fit for delicate fingers or glossy skins or
fine attire. Toiling day in or day out,
working till the very dirt grimes the under
cuticle, these two helpmeets, hand in
hand, with n common sweat pouring from
their bodies laid the foundation for the
leading German newspaper Of the United
States of America
The normal result.
A great property?
Yes, nnW----ver then. Many and many
stnne they wondered if the paper could
be got out. Many a time and oft they
saw the matter prepared and type set
and justified and in the form, without one
sheet of paper dampened for the press;
but industry persevered in, economy prac-
tced and a clever laid programme for cir
culation followed out, led them on, step
by step, until they reached the basement,
and then an upper floor, and then an
other, until, finally, they occupied two
great buildings ON Chatham row.
Morning after morning for months, for
years, for decades, Mrs. Uhl came down
town, sold the papers and carried the
literary money in her carpet bag to her
home.
She sold the papers, she took the cash,
she kept the books, she paid the bills and
she paid the balance. Gradually they
emerged from the realm Of poverty and
placed their foot on the solid rock Of in
dependence.
Then Uhl died and was gathered to his
fathers.
And Mrs. Uhlf
Oh, she married the bookkeeper, for
''when the old man died the property sur
vived," and Oswald Ottendorfer, a tall,
handsome Teuton who had been hired in
the early days of their prosperity, gen
tleman, n man Of education, a possible
factor in politics, made love to the widow,
captured her fair, fat and 40 hand and
led her to the altar. The property ex-
panded and when the Tweed ring burst
forth In all its uproarious rOisterings in
the city its patronage was given to The
Stats Zeitung as freely as to The Post,
Commercial, Star and World. Later on,
phenomenally rich, Mrs. Ottendorfer, who
had been, with her husband, the founder
of The Stats Zetung, died universally
respected, and with a funeral procession
such rarely attends the obsequies Of a
private citizen she was carried to Green
wood cemetery and laid away with every
Indication of popular respect and profess
sional regard.
Had il not been for her the Stats
Zeitung would never have existed.
Had it not been for her the great Ger
man organ would never have obtained the
phenomenal proportions it has to-day
Joe Howard in Cincinnati Enquirer.